PORTLAND, Ore. --
Investigators are trying to figure out what caused a house fire and a
chemical reaction at a home in Northeast Portland.

The fire broke out at a home on NE Sumner Street
around 7:15 p.m. on Thursday.

Upon
arrival, firefighters saw heavy flames coming from the front of the
house. But when the crew sprayed water on the fire, a chemical reaction
occurred and produced what looked like electrical
arcing.

"Firefighters had to think
on their feet to move past this reaction and stop the fire before it
spread to the attic," said Portland Fire Capt. Jamie
Klum.

Firefighters were able to
extinguish the fire in about 20 minutes. Commanders called in extra
resources to rotate crews in the freezing temperatures and make sure
that firefighters could stay safe and warm.

Damage from the fire is estimated at $20,000. No one
was hurt, and the occupant of the home is staying with family
members.

"Most house fires are like a
big chemistry experiment," said Portland fire official Paul Corah.
"There are chemicals in the average household that would surprise people
and can impact how a fire behaves."

A
chemical company is suing the City of Kelowna and its fire department
for negligence after toxic chemicals were washed into a local creek
following a warehouse fire last summer.

Pesticides, fertilizers and glycol were washed into a storm
drain while firefighters were dousing the flames at the Univar Canada
depot, one of several businesses destroyed by a fire on Kirschner Road
in July.

Univar Canada, Kelowna

The runoff turned the water in nearby Mill Creek
bright green and killed dozens of small fish before working its way into
Okanagan Lake.

In recently filed court documents, Univar Canada =97 a
wholesale agricultural fertilizer and pesticide supplier =97 alleges
fire crews didn't do enough to keep the chemicals from contaminating
nearby soil and water, and ignored warnings from the company's staff
about the risks.

MIAMI,
Okla. =97 Firefighters believe that chemical fumes created during
remodeling of a Miami home may have caused a flash fire early Wednesday
that damaged a portion of the unoccupied house.

The Miami
Fire Department responded at 12:39 a.m. to 1910 G St. N.W. and found a
smoldering fire in a bathroom at the back of the single-story
structure.

Fire Capt. Robert Wright said no one was home at the
time, and no injuries were reported. Wright said the fire had extended
slightly into the attic before firefighters arrived.

The owner
of the residence, Butch Crockett, told firefighters that he had been
using a chemical to remove caulking and glue in the bathroom as part of
remodeling the house and was using some candles to help mask the
chemical smell.

Wright said it appeared that fumes had caused a flash
fire that turned into a smoldering blaze because of a lack of oxygen in
the room.

Hazmat crews in Rutherford
County were at the scene of a chemical spill Friday at the site of a
closed business. Authorities are now looking into whether someone was
using the site as a dumping ground for chemicals.

On Friday morning, a La
Vergne police officer saw a person -- who said he's the brother of the
owner -- loading 55-gallon barrels into the back of a pickup truck at
162 Jefferson Pike, the former location of Pipe Dreams Inc. Police were
in the area because of some recent thefts.

The officer noticed a strong smell and called the
city's fire department.

Hazmat
crews were immediately sent out to the area, where they discovered the
chemicals, possibly including acetone, were flammable and were poured
onto the ground behind the business and extended about 40 yards to the
side of the railroad tracks. CSX Railroad has been notified of the
spill.

"We came out and was able to
define a specific area that may be contaminated by an unknown product,"
said Tim Hooker of the Rutherford County Emergency Management Agency.
"Some may be acetone, which is indicated on the 55-gallon
drums."

WORKERS HAD to be evacuated from a factory in Co Clare
early yesterday after 250 litres of sulphuric acid were accidentally
spilled inside the plant.

The alarm was raised at about 6.30am when staff
reported the spill in a storage area at the rear of an Essilor Ireland
plant on the outskirts of Ennis.

The company, known as
Organic Lens Manufacturing, produces ophthalmic corrective lenses and is
located in the Gort Road industrial estate where it employs more than
300 workers.

About 50 staff were working at the time and they were
quickly evacuated to emergency meeting points outside the plant where
management carried out a roll call to ensure that everyone was accounted
for. The company=92s emergency response team was deployed pending
arrival of the emergency services.

One
person is in hospital and four other workers at Imperial are being
treated on site for chemical burns after a hazardous materials leak at
the refinery.

Sarnia deputy fire chief Joe Bondy said a power outage
caused the leak. Five workers were exposed to an unknown chemical
compound. Their condition is not known at this time.

The all
clear was issued at 11:15 a.m.

"Four are being look at in
the plant, because they have the facilities there," he said. "I know one
is being taken by ambulance to the hospital. Depending on the severity
of the people (at the plant) they may or may not be
transported."

Imperial Oil spokesperson Jon Harding said the
incident occurred at 9:58 a.m. Excess flaring and odours may be
noticeable, he said.

Bondy said workers took immediate steps to fix the
leak and it's believed that it has been contained. The fire service is
currently conducting air monitoring onsite.

CASEYVILLE =95 Ink from a printer mixed with chlorine
Wednesday afternoon at a nonhazardous waste company, causing a small
chemical explosion and shutting down a street for several
hours, French Village fire officials said Wednesday
night.

Assistant Chief Brian
Halwachs said no one was hurt in the explosion, which sent white smoke
billowing from the top of Illini Environmental Inc. at 8895 California
Drive, off Highway 157 near St. Clair Avenue. St. Clair County HAZMAT
officials deemed the area safe from further chemical reaction and the
road was reopened late Wednesday evening.

Halwachs said the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency, which sent a mediation team into the building, has taken over
the investigation into how the chemical reaction
occurred.

A passer-by called 911
around 4:30 p.m. saying smoke was coming from the building. A second
call, from Illini Evironmental officials, was for a chemical spill.
French Village fire officials called for the St. Clair County HAZMAT
team to investigate. Fairview fire Deputy Chief Bruce Green said the
material safety data sheets on the container said they were
nonhazardous.

SHELBY
COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - Five individuals have been charged in two separate
Shelby County meth lab busts which occurred during a 24 hour time frame
last week.

After responding to a chemical explosion at a
Montevallo home Feb. 18, the Shelby County Sherriff's Office and fire
department personnel continued to investigate the cause of the
fire.

Officials entered the residence with protective
equipment and identified chemicals inside the home as ones used to
produce methamphetamine. Two of the people inside the home at the time
of the explosion were taken to the hospital for injuries from the fire
and another person fled the scene before deputies
arrived.

"Using methamphetamine is dangerous. Making
methamphetamine is even more dangerous. Put the two together and
tragedy is close behind," said Lieutenant Chris George, commander of the
drug task force.

As a result of that investigation, Tracey Edward
Boothe, 41, of Montevallo, Jerime Wayne Dunnaway, 39 of Montevallo, and
Tommy Rodger Carden, 45, of Alabaster were charged with unlawful
manufacturing of a controlled substance of the first degree.
Boothe and Dunnaway are currently being held in the Shelby County jail
with bonds of $500,000 each.

INDEPENDENCE, Pa. (AP) -- An explosion and fire at a
gas well injured three workers Wednesday night, authorities
said.

The blast, at the Chesapeake Appalachia LLC Powers
site in Avella, was reported at about 6:20 p.m., Washington County
emergency officials said.

Read more about natural gas drilling

Workers
were transferring water used in a gas-extraction process called
hydraulic fracturing, and several of the natural gas liquids storage
tanks caught fire, said Katy Gresh, a spokeswoman for the Department of
Environmental Protection's southwest region.

WASHINGTON - Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, a citizen
of Saudi Arabia and resident of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested late
yesterday by FBI agents in Texas on a federal charge of attempted use of
a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his alleged purchase of
chemicals and equipment necessary to make an improvised explosive device
(IED) and his research of potential U.S. targets.

The arrest and the criminal complaint, which was
unsealed in the Northern District of Texas, were announced by David
Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; James T. Jacks,
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas; and Robert E. Casey
Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Dallas Field
Division.

Aldawsari is expected to
make his initial appearance in federal court in Lubbock at 9:00 a.m. on
Friday morning. Aldawsari, who was lawfully admitted into the
United States in 2008 on a student visa and is enrolled at South Plains
College near Lubbock, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a
$250,000 fine if convicted of attempted use of a weapon of mass
destruction.

The company owner said
employees were mixing 2 drums of chlorine bath tablets (toilet bowl
cleaner) with latext paint to prepare them for shipment to a landfill
when they gave off a lot of vapor. The white smoke/chemical cloud
was so thick that it was first thought to be a fire.

An employee called police to report a chemical spill
but a passerby called 911 and reported a fire.

The owner said the smoke shouldn't be hazardous but as
a precaution the business was evacuated and residents in two nearby
homes were told to shelter in place, stay in home with windows shut and
ac/heat turned off.

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